CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 272, 18 April 1914, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE GOVERNMENTS PROMISES. None of tho grwt problem, that ari- ■ to the public mind seem to have anV > .ice m .the conscience or intention, of the Government of „„ mucll adv( , rtiH d ami vaunted "Reform," For example U,o„Mf !I - V Tf?■ t0 have for S o tteu all undeislood to hare seriously concerned "■ mind and heart in the>*t To onger do we hear that taxation is'to be reduced, that then- must be a taner-mg-oft in borrowing, that the public expenditure mint he lessened, that social insurance ought to be extended. <Jo„c are the days when we .beard the pathetic »torj 0 i excessive railway fares—especially seeond-ela.-w faro* ! - winch the liberals in their iniquity, and in their extremity to -find something f rCHn to ta.t. J'ail charged the poor people. Vanished nr,! tlie profuse piedges of Customs revision, -of (heal and financial reform, ot laeilities tor men of small capital, to 'LlTft 1 ': , , ,,, " ,,y mwlns of tho'lewe™4. < Mr - Masaey'3 very words) as * stepping-stone to the freehold if they so desire. Buried in oblivion, or in the. grave of abandoned hop's.. - ro the prom•<~f of all these f.ne rfiorma.. rf Wn- " '■'"" ' ; -'''■ ■■ ' - -■•*, ■••'« '->.'OV.' : .r.s. .. o: Iccti

industries, and all the rest of the votecatching paraphernalia wiiick was invented ior the Tory campaign of 1011.

THE TOTALISATOR.

It is computed that, within- the last fow days, very nearly half a million of money has been put through the totalisator in New Zealand. It may -be, recoiled that a sum equal probable to half thi3 amount, has been invested with the bookmaking fraternity, which does not legally exist. With the particular forms of gambling we are not concerned. If one torm is good for the community, the other cannot be morally uad. What we are really concerned to know is the significance of the enormous increase in our hotting transactions. Is it evidence of tho immense prosperity of the country? Or, does it imply a stronger public sentiment in favor of gambling? The figures that have been published of late make an interesting study for sociologists. —Masterton Age. PAINTED LADIES.

Paris is going one worse than London, for there, the women of fashion, discarding as trite the coloured wig, have begun to paint pictures—lizards or lions of anything like that —upon their faces. There is nothing new under the sun or in the shade, and these women, copying the example of seafaring and its tattoos, are merely reverting to barbaric allurements. Of course, these eccentricities are base ; and hideous. Bat they may certainly achieve the result of attracting attention—the one lure for modern woman, be she a suffragist or a face disfigurer. Yet it is all very sad and bad. The world is more full than ever of problems, and more than ever humanity demands for its service the help of personal work. Women can find a thousand sane and useful outlets for their energies, a thousand wholesome occupations for leisured minds and idle hands. Yet some women —and they begin unfortunately to leaven the lump—would have us know that they ran do nothing better with their opportunities than destroy their natural charms and make themselves hideous in order to be observed.

OUR CHANCE IN AMERICA. The States is likely to be a customer well worth looking 'after—this applies particularly to tho Pacific seaboard, while tho crowded East Coast cities will provide still another market for our wans. It will take time to remove a bad first impression, and the Americans, deadly keen business men themselves, will not be sparing of criticism if their commercial relations xwth New Zealand disclose carelessness or neglect. If America is to buy our butter, cheese and frozen meat, each and all of these must be of the best quality and guaranteed..\ There should be a market for second and :.hird class goods, but these should bear certificates to that effect. To allow thirdclass butter to be sold as first-class without applying the ordinary remedy of careful inspection will only tentt to make the_ hard-bitten Yankee suspicious. And he is too good a customer to bj frightened away, even though some of his fellows are not over-anxious to be friendly toward.? the oversea exporters— Christchurch Sun.

FED ON ELECTRICITY. As the London -restaurants are always in a'hurry for young chickens (and the fatter the chicken the bettor) poultry raisers have hit on the device of hurrying up the "petit poussin" by giving him electric treatment. While he is in the shell and While 'lie is out of it, the chicken is hustled by "the application of high-frequency electric currents." The result is that when he comes to the poulterer ho is fifty per cent, bigger than he uu'd to be-at the same age. This is Already a wonder of science, but is nothing in comparison with What is going to happen. If we begin by adding 50 per cent to the weight of a chicken, why Shouldn't wo add 500 per cent or 5000? When electric fattening is understood, the development of chickens on H. G. Well's boom food (though it produced fowls as tall as giraffes) will seem a feeble flight of fancy. One squab bird will be big enough to feed an army, and a cockerel six months old will divide up into enough white meat for a Lord Mayor's banquet in all the capital* at once. Wo needn't stop at chickens. The electric bullock will he just as ea.~v as possible tho electric rooster. When the Meat Trust starts to depress prices to the grazier, tho lattir needn't worry. By turning on a few switches in the stockyard, he will raise all his beasts to an average weight of several tons each, until all the money in Chicago will suffice to buy up all the stock that is offering. Why stop at the animals- used for food? An electrised racehorse, about .sixty hands high instead of sixteen, would be able to gallop faster than any Gigandra. Then* we would have also the electric pugilist; a Pelkv bigger than Antaeus. The present New "south Wales "ovornment thinks it is entcrnrisins. Why doesn't it electrify its policemen, and frighten all the thieves and burglars away?— Sydney "Sun."